George Malek-Yonan

George Malek-Yonan (1924-2014) was an Assyrian-American international attorney, politician and athlete, and father of actress Rosie Malek-Yonan.

The Assyrian Malek family claims to trace its roots back eleven centuries. During the Assyrian Genocide of 1914-1918, Malek-Yonan's family fled to Baghdad during the Great Exodus from Urmia where he was born on 11 October 1924. He died on 14 November 2014 in California. When still a young child, his family migrated back to Iran and finally settled in Tehran. His parents were Yosip (Joseph) and Suriya, both Assyrian. His older sister, Florence, was Knighted in the early 70s and lived in Switzerland where she died on 18 February 2007. His older brother, David, was a renowned engineer in Iran who built many of Iran's major freeways and roadways as well as numerous silos in Russia. His younger brother, Cyrus, left Iran for England when he was only seventeen to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and eventually settled in Paris.

Malek-Yonan married Lida Bet-Benyamin, also of Assyrian descent, in Tehran in 1950 and has two daughters: Monica Malek-Yonan and Rosie Malek-Yonan, the author of The Crimson Field and also a cast member of the long-running television series General Hospital.

Malek-Yonan studied at Tehran University's Law School, earning a Law Degree in 1946 and a Degree in Political Science in 1947. In 1964 he studied law at Golden Gate Law School in San Francisco, California. He practiced international law for more than fifty years representing many of the American, European and Asian corporations in Iran. He was the attorney for the U.S. Embassy in Tehran during the American hostage takeover. He moved to the U.S. after the Iranian Revolution.

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